1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved form of a protective glove that is highly flexible in response to movement of a wearer's hand. More particularly, it relates to such a glove that will allow the user's hand to be positioned in a natural manner when grasping objects while wearing the glove. Most especially, it relates to such a glove which is suitable for use as a hockey glove.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of special purpose gloves have been developed for various sports and outdoor activities, such as hockey, lacrosse and skiing. These gloves must offer substantial protection for the wearer, either against impacts on the hands or cold. At the same time, such activities require the wearer of the gloves to be able to move his or her fingers for grasping a hockey or lacrosse stick or a ski pole. Flexibility is also required at the wrist to be able to execute rapid moves of the hockey or lacrosse stick as required in play. Because hockey and lacrosse are rough sports involving a substantial amount of contact with opposing players and their sticks, such as when checking an opponent, hockey and lacrosse gloves have substantial padding for the hand, which extends along the arm to cover the wrist and is designed to be laced around the wrist and lower forearm. The need to provide such padding and the need for a high degree of flexibility are somewhat contradictory. In fact, many hockey players will remove the lacing from conventional hockey gloves in order to obtain desired flexibility at the wrist, which exposes the wrist to an increased risk of injury.
Examples of prior art sport gloves are shown and described in the following issued patents and publications: U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,117, issued Sept. 20, 1971 to Latina; U.S. Pat. No. 3,997,922, issued Dec. 21, 1976 to Huhta; U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,073, issued Feb. 5, 1985 to Deutsch; U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,127, issued Sept. 17, 1985 to Gould; U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,698, issued July 7, 1987 to Angas; U.S. Des. Pat. No. 257,909, issued Jan. 20, 1981 to Brine; U.K. No. 670,862, issued Apr. 23, 1952 to Gamet; French U.S. Pat. No. 1,109,306, issued Jan. 24, 1956 to Cuir-Sic S.A. and West German Offenlegungsschrift No. 3,135,756, published Apr. 14, 1983 by Reusch. As can be seen in this prior art, flexibility is obtained in the padding at the fingers of such gloves by providing a plurality of parallel break lines extending perpendicular to the fingers of the gloves. While such parallel break lines allow the wearer's fingers to be curved to grasp a hockey or lacrosse stick or a ski pole, the flexibility thus obtained does not correspond to the natural position of the wearer's fingers when grasping such objects. As a result, the prior art gloves continue to bind the user's hand in use of the gloves.
The Huhta patent discloses the use of flexible inserts of pleated material in the fingers and at the knuckles of ski gloves to increase the grasping flexibility of the gloves, but such an approach would not be suitable for hockey or lacrosse gloves, since it would leave substantial areas of the gloves without the thick padding provided in such gloves. The Deutsch patent shows a lacrosse glove with a flexible cuff portion obtained by joining the cuff to the hand of the glove by a strip of flexible material, but this design provides increased flexibility at the expense of protection at the wrist. The Angas patent provides increased flexibility at the cuff of a hockey glove by providing triangular portions of the cuff, which move in a hinging action as the user's wrist flexes. While this design provides some increase in flexibility, it would be advantageous to increase the amount of flexibility still further without sacrificing wrist protection.